The Guardian Saturday February 7 1998

 IT IS more than six years since Winston Silcott was cleared of the murder of PC Keith Blakelock, and yet it appears that he is still serving a life sentence for it. He remains in jail for the killing of Anthony Smith, a gangster who, armed with a knife and backed up by two henchmen, attacked Winston and was injured in the fight that followed, dying a week later. Winston was convicted of his murder in February 1986. It is hard to believe that he would still be in jail I if he were not being punished for something else.

There is mounting evidence that Winston acted in self-defence and that he gave this account of events to his legal team. Notes taken by a barrister's pupil show Winston saying that he was handed a knife a to protect himself At trial, he denied having a knife or stabbing Smith, even though Smith had clearly attacked him and sustained stab wounds. A statement has been made by another barrister who was asked to take the case to appeal. He says that the solicitors' clerk who had prepared the defence case for trial admitted to him that Winston should have been advised to plead self-defence.

In 1987, Lord Lane refused leave to appeal against the conviction, immediately after the hearing in which he had rejected Winston's appeal against the Blakelock conviction. Lane's view was that, if Winston lied at the Smith trial, it was his own fault and nothing could be done about it.

New material obtained subsequent to those appeal proceedings includes three eye-witness accounts which confirm that Smith attacked Winston; and a statement from the principal prosecution witness at the trial, who states that, if she had been asked whether it appeared that Winston was defending himself she would have said that he clearly was.

In retrospect, it seems obvious that Winston should have pleaded self-defence. It was never disputed that Smith was the aggressor; his knife was found among his clothes; and there were plenty of witnesses. For Winston to pretend to have had nothing to do with Smith's injuries seems crazy. The only explanation for the strategy can be that he was already becoming famous as "The Beast of Broadwater Farm".

Winston was on bail charged with the murder of Smith, when Cynthia Jarrett suffered a fatal heart attack during a police raid at her home on October 5,1985. A march on Tottenham police station was prevented by the police effectively sealing off the Broadwater Farm Estate, where relations with the community had become extremely strained. The situation degenerated into riots, during which PC Keith Blakelock was horribly butchered ed. He had had nothing to do with Mrs Jarrett's death.

It is hard to believe that Winston Silcott would still be in jail if he were not being punished for something else

 In the days that followed, hundreds of young men and boys were arrested. Six were charged with murder: One of them, Jason Hill, was 13. He was kept in a cell for three days and interrogated in his under pants. At trial, the judge rubbished his confession condemned his interrogation and ordered his acquittal. Two other juveniles were also acquitted, but Mark Braithwaite, Engin Raghip and Winston Silcott were convicted.

The evidence was scant to say the least. Braithwaite confessed to hitting a policeman with an iron bar. This was not consistent with PC Blakelock's injuries Raghip a suggestible young mall of low intelligence, was interrogated for 12 hours, during which, he says threats were made against his wife and son. He confessed merely to having been in the crowd. Winston, unpopular with police as a member of the local Youth Association and Haringey Police Committee, did not confess to anything nor sign interview notes. The court had to rely on officers reading out unsigned notes and describing what Roy Amlott QC summed up as a "guilty posture". Later, forensic tests on the notes showed that important sections were added after the interview. The convictions of all three men were quashed in November 1991.

So what does all this have to do with Anthony Smith? When Winston came to trial he that case, he was already known as a suspect in the Blakelock case. Unusually for a case about a Fight in which the man killed was the aggressor; witnesses and jurors were all given police protection, and the court was ringed with armed police. One would normally see this kind of thing in a terrorist case and it cannot have failed to impress the jury.

Winston and his lawyers are likely to have been preoccupied by the upcoming trial for the Broadwater Farm killing I presume that they thought he hadn't a hope of convincing a jury that he had injured Smith in self-defence. None of the evidence backing this version of events was used and instead he lied about injuring Smith. Last November, the Criminal Cases Review Commission announced that it was minded to refuse an application to return to this c case to the Court of Appeal. The Commission's view was that the two cases are unrelated. This new quango is usurping the legal process and announcing its own verdicts, instead of doing what it was created to do-assess whether there Is sufficient evidence for cases to go back to court.

It is, therefore, timely that an excellent book about Winston is published this week. It is entitled A Chronology of Injustice and has been compiled by Legal Action for Women, who have been offering much-needed support to Winston's mother, Mary, for some years. Mary and Bernie Grant MP are launching the book in the Jubilee Room at the House of Commons al 5pm on Thursday and copies can be ordered directly by ringing 0171482 2496.

NEW NATION
Monday 16 February, 1998
Issue 64

Mrs Silcott prayers
Free Silcott
book demands

 A NEW book demanding the release from jail of Winston Silcott has been published just as the Criminal Cases Review Commission prepares to decide his fate.

Silcott is serving a life sentence for the murder of bouncer Anthony Smith, but was also convicted of killing PC Keith Blakelock during the Tottenham riots of 1985.

That conviction was quashed in 1991 and his supporters say he is now a 'hostage' of a vengeful justice system.

The new book launched last week at a Commons: r reception hosted by Bernie Grant MP, says Winston's trial for the Smith murder was prejudiced by lurid press reports about the Blakelock murder..

lt claims the killing of Smith was self-defence Winston's original plea.

Lord Anthony Gifford QC, who chaired the riot inquiry, said: 'There are strong indications that this is a case of reasonable and legitimate self-defence'.

His mum, Mary, who attended the launch said: We are just praying that justice will prevail after all these years'

The Observer
8 February 1998 p9